Schroeder Sticks by Stance on Iraq

COLLEEN BARRY

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, September 22, 2002

Associated Press Writer

BERLIN (AP) _ Emboldened by his razor-thin victory in Germany's closest postwar election, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Monday stuck by his emphatic opposition to a war on Iraq after a campaign that angered Washington for unleashing anti-American tones.

Schroeder's Social Democrats secured another four years for his coalition with the small Greens party in Sunday's vote, but the chancellor must confront a tougher opposition as he attempts to revive Europe's largest economy and rebuild ties with the United States.

Schroeder's victory handed Europe's dwindling left another boost a week after Social Democrats triumphed in Sweden.

Despite indications from Washington that the relationship with Berlin had been poisoned by campaign rhetoric stemming from Schroeder's anti-war stand, the chancellor insisted a friendship nurtured under Cold War tensions remained strong. Allies, he said, can withstand differences _ not only on Iraq but also on other areas, like strategies to combat global warming.

"I think this difference of opinion will remain," Schroeder said. "We will have it out in a fair and open way without in any way endangering the basis of German-American relations. That is my firm intention."

Schroeder's outspoken opposition to a military conflict with Iraq was credited with giving him a late push in a tight campaign. But it provoked a rare open spat with the United States and accusations he whipped up emotions against a vital ally for electoral gain.

Schroeder's majority in parliament was shaved to only nine seats from a 21 previously. His conservative rival, Edmund Stoiber, said that slender majority would not hold long.

"I predict that this Schroeder government will rule for only a very short time," Stoiber said. "What I criticize above all is that (Schroeder) opened the floodgates for anti-American tones," Stoiber said on German television, calling the crisis with the United States "the most devastating of the last 50 years."

But European Commission President Romano Prodi played down the German-American spat. "If there is a 'poisoning' of relations then there is a misunderstanding of democracy in Germany. We must be prepared to work together to discuss issues publicly," he told reporters.

Analysts expect Schroeder to adopt a softer tone after the election, but he showed no intention Monday of backing down. He has insisted he would not commit troops to a war in Iraq even if the United Nations backs military action.

"I have formulated a German position, and I have nothing to retract on that count," Schroeder told German television.

Yet the Bush administration remained cold.

"I have no comment on the German elections outcome, but I would have to say that the way it was conducted was notably unhelpful. And as the White House indicated, has had the effect of poisoning the relationship," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said while attending a NATO meeting in Warsaw, Poland.

When asked Monday about a letter Schroeder sent to Bush last week, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said: "It really didn't read like an apology. It read more like an attempt at an explanation."

Bush, at a rally in Trenton, N.J., did not speak about Schroeder, but was addressing the war on terrorism when he pointedly told the crowd: "I made it clear to the world, that either you're with us or you're with the enemy and that doctrine still stands."

Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will remain Schroeder's most important Cabinet member, entrusted with the role of repairing U.S.-German relations and empowered by the Greens' strong showing that ensured the chancellor's second four-year term.

Also expected to retain their posts were Interior Minister Otto Schily, the official charged with domestic security, and Finance Minister Hans Eichel, the architect of plans to balance the federal budget by 2006.

A top Schroeder aide, Franz Muentefering, said Monday he would not rule out giving the Greens an additional Cabinet post, for a total of four.

In the most dramatic switch, the justice minister ensured her own doom with reported remarks comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler. Schroeder said the minister, Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, had submitted a letter Monday giving up the post in a new Cabinet, after receiving clear signals on Sunday the government would not have her.

The chancellor may also be looking for a new labor minister, after the government's failure to make a dent in unemployment.

Official election results released early Monday showed the Social Democrats and Greens won a combined 47.1 percent of the vote for the lower house, or Bundestag. Opposition parties led by the conservatives totaled 45.9 percent.

That gave the Social Democrats and Greens 306 seats in the new 603-seat parliament, compared to 295 for conservatives and the pro-business Free Democrats. Reformed communists won the other two seats.

Speaking on CNN Sunday, Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the "core relationship between the Republic of Germany and the United States is solid. What you had is Schroeder doing what a lot of politicians do, trying to get out his base."

Schroeder may have won, but his failure to deliver on a promise to reduce unemployment eroded support for the Social Democrats, which slid 2.4 percentage points from 1998's 40.9 percent result.

But prospects for a conservative coalition were hurt by a scandal in the Free Democratic Party over deputy leader Juergen Moellemann's renewed attacks on a prominent German Jewish leader. The party's leadership demanded his resignation and he gave it on Monday.

The party raised its support to 7.4 percent from 6.2 percent _ less than expected.

Some 79 percent of Germany's 61 million voters turned out Sunday _ casting two votes, one for a local candidate and one for a party. The party vote determined the percentage of seats each party won in the Bundestag, or parliament, chosen from a list of candidates submitted.

Beyond his forthright stand on Iraq, Schroeder broad-brushed much of his agenda for a second term except to uphold values like a fair society and the welfare state.

Stung by Germany's jobless problem, he has pledged to reform the highly regulated labor market. He has also promised to expand all-day schools and child care to make life easier for working mothers.